The death of Pope Francis for a day sweeps the late news from the newspapers. The war of duties, the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, the trump’s tantrums pass in the background and the image of Francesco fills the first pages and openings of the sites of the world press.
The image of Bergoglio dominates when he was still well, smiling and paternal, with his hands greeting or blessing. “Long live the Pope!” And “Thank you Pope” headlines two Australian newspapers in Italian. The Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung Remember that Francesco was “servant of the Lord until the resurrection”. Many point out that Francesco was “the Pope of the poor” and the “people”. While the French Liberation headlines in Latin Perdimus Papam.
The Argentine newspaper Page 12 Francesco recalls as “the Latin American Pope that ‘Cardinals went to look for the world’, as he himself said, enters the history of the Catholic Church and of humanity as the person who, exercising a firm leadership, inside and outside the institutional borders, has been able to understand the challenges of society, from his place he looked for the answers to his reach and, above all, had the ability to challenge his and distant message with his message human “.
“Bergoglio detested the religion led by the ‘principles of the Church’ and stubbornly believed that priests, bishops, archbishops and cardinals should return to the roots of their mission: evangelizing, spreading the message of the sacred scriptures, realizing what he called ‘the design of God’, be close to those who suffer and not to discard anyone (as far as a sinner can be). Priests as ‘shepherds with the smell of sheep’ were metaphors that explained the church that he imagined to bring it closer to the ordinary people who had been lost, “writes another Argentine newspaper, The Nacion.
The attention that is paid to Francesco by the Arab world is interesting. “Pope Francis: a spiritual leader in harmony with the peoples of the Middle East”, headlines the Emiratine newspaper The National. “The news of the death of Pope Francis will be a source of profound pain not only for the billion of Catholics in the world, but also for all the people of good will who have shared the heartfelt opposition of the pontiff to poverty and injustice and his desire to build bridges with the different faiths. In the Middle East it will be remembered above all as the first Catholic leader to visit the Arabic peninsula and the first to visit the Iraq” In English published in the country visited by Francesco in 2019. The newspaper recalls the closeness of Francesco to the population of Gaza: “Unfortunately the conflict continues to reign in Palestine, but Francesco was a constant presence, even on the darkest days. His daily calls to the small and besieged Catholic Congregation of Gaza were a demonstration of what the Middle East was present in his papacy”.
“The Arabs cry the death of Pope Francis, supporter of interreligious dialogue and human dignity”, headlines the Saudi newspaper Arab News. The newspaper recalls: “Among the most characteristic aspects of Francesco’s papacy there was his commitment with the Middle East and the Arab world. His leadership was marked by a historic opening towards Muslim and Christian communities, with persistent attention to peace and human dignity.
Consulting the solution of the two states for Israelis and Palestinians, Francesco has left a tireless voice for peace and human dignity, in the Arab world and beyond. In the Vatican, Francesco favored unprecedented meetings, including a 2014 prayer summit with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. This has shown its belief that dialogue and prayer can lay the foundations for lasting peace “.
The New York Times Remember that “Pope Francis helped inspire the global movement against climate change Francesco has framed climate change as an urgent spiritual question and helped to push the world to act”. The newspaper also recalls that “Francesco tried to reset the course of the Roman Catholic Church, emphasizing the inclusion and care for marginalized with respect to doctrinal purity”.
For the French Catholic newspaper The Croix“Through his writings, his speeches and his initiatives, Pope Francis has revitalized the social teaching of the Church by giving him a unique flavor. The pontificate just concluded will go to history as an important contribution to the social thought of the Church. Pope Francis has renewed the style of social thought, to awaken the consciences in front of the dramas and the injustices that the poor are the first victims. of Assisi “.
According to the Spaniard El paìs“Pope Francis brought a social and reforming breath to the Church”, however he also met resistance.
“For the most conservative sector of the Church “, writes the newspaper Madrileno,” it has even gone too far and against him, a real front has been opened that saw him practically as a dangerous left populist pope. But the enormous expectations he has aroused have sometimes disappointed even the most progressive, who expected deeper changes in the reform of the Curia, in the increase in collegiality in the decision -making process, in the female order or in the sexual doctrine. In one of the key problems, the fight against pedophilia, has worked hard with drastic rules and decisions – has resigned the entire Chilean episcopal conference – but the rest of the hierarchy, the bishops of each country and the Vatican bureaucracy have not always followed its example and have resisted “.
Critic the judgment of the American conservative newspaper Wall Street Journalwho writes: “Pope Francis was known above all for having solicited attention to the poor, in the best Christian tradition. He invoked a clergy of” shepherds who smell their sheep “, that is, priests and nuns who share the suffering of their neighbors. He made support to the weakest the rhetorical fulcrum of his papacy. He brought to the Vatican a factor and a public opening. The poor in poverty.
